Laurie Strode
Laurie Strode, is a character and primary protagonist in the ''Halloween'' franchise. She first appeared in the original Halloween, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Laurie's history is complicated by the fact that the series follows several conflicting continuities. Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later and Resurrection ignore the events of Halloween 4, 5, and 6, splitting the series into two separate timelines both originating from the original film and its sequel. The 2007 remake reboots the series continuity altogether, starting the timeline afresh. Biography Early years Cynthia Myers was the youngest of three children born to Donald and Edith Myers. She was born in 1961. When she was only two, her six-year-old brother Michael brutally murdered their older sister Judith with a butcher knife. Michael was sent away following the incident. At some point when she was very young, she was taken to to visit Michael at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. On January 3, 1966, her parents were killed in an automobile accident and Cynthia went into the foster care system where she was immediately adopted by Morgan and Pamela Strode, who changed her name to Laurie. The Governer of Illinois kept her records sealed so that no one would further connect Laurie Strode with her psychotic older brother. Laurie eventually forgot about her birth family and the visit she made to her brother. 1978 By 1978, seventeen-year-old Laurie was a kindhearted yet introverted girl of seventeen who attended Haddonfield High School with her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok. Laurie was shy and bookish and did not share her friends' overt personalities. She always claimed that her brainy ways scared boys away, which accounted for her sparse dating history. On October 31st, her adoptive father Morgan Strode, owner of Strode Realty, asked Laurie to drop off a set of keys to the old Myers house, which had been on the market for quite some time. Laurie had no idea that this was in fact the house she was born in. During literature class, Laurie glimpsed a man staring at her across the street. After school, Laurie and her friends were walking home when she spied the same strange shape peering at them from around a corner. Annie went investigate, but found nothing. She teased Laurie, saying that she "scared another one away". At home, she thought she saw the same strange, masked ma n in her neighbor's back yard behind a clothes line. After taking a shower, Laurie was visited by a frantic Lynda, who claimed that someone had been following her. Laurie worriedly assumed that Lynda's stalker was the same man she had been seeing, and became increasingly paranoid. Later that day, she went out with Annie and learned that someone had broken into Nichol's Hardware Store and had stolen a Halloween mask, a robe, and a couple of knives. As Annie and she drove around town, Laurie expressed an interest in going out with a boy named Bennett Tramer. Annie decided to take matters into her own hands and surreptitiously contacted Ben without Laurie's approval. Laurie was deeply embarrassed when she heard the news and begged Annie to call him back and break it off. That evening, Laurie went to the Doyle residence to babysit young Tommy Doyle. She brought along a jack-o'-lantern and entertained Tommy by reading him some of his comic books and watching scary movies. As the evening wore on, Annie came over to the house with her own charge, Lindsey Wallace, in tow. She asked Laurie to keep an eye on Lindsey for the next few hours so she could go out with her boyfriend Paul Freedman. Laurie didn't like the idea, but agreed after Annie told her she would cancel her pending date with Ben Tramer. What Laurie didn't realize at the time was that her psychotic brother Michael Myers had broken out of the mental institution at Smith's Grove and had returned to Haddonfield to kill again. It was Michael that Laurie had seen earlier at school, on the sidewalk and in her neighbor's back yard. While Laurie was watching over Tommy, Michael was methodically killing her friends off one at a time including, Annie, Lynda and Lynda's boyfriend Bob Simms. Laurie went over to the Wallace residence to check on Annie, but instead found the bodies of Annie, Lynda and Bob strategically placed in key positions throughout the house. Michael Myers emerged and attacked Laurie, slicing her arm open with his knife. The impact pitched Laurie over the second floor landing, and she fell down the stairs, cracking her ankle in the process. Halloween II (1981) provided the full diagnosis on Laurie's injuries. Screaming in terror, Laurie limped back to the Doyle house and screamed for the children to let her inside. Tommy eventually opened the door and Laurie quickly entered the house, locking the door behind her. Michael got in through the window and attacked Laurie anew. She kept him at bay by stabbing him in the neck with a knitting needle then ran upstairs. Michael was undeterred and followed her up the stairs. He cornered Laurie in a bedroom closet and tried stabbing at her with his knife. Laurie straightened out the end of a clothes hanger and jabbed Michael in the eye, forcing him to relinquish his blade. Laurie picked it up and stabbed Michael in the stomach. He slumped to the floor and Laurie believed he was dead. Tearfully, she exited the closet and issued instructions to the children to leave the house. Moments later however, Michael rose and attacked Laurie again. He began strangling her and Laurie managed to pull his mask away, seeing his face for the first time. At this moment, Michael's former psychiatrist Doctor Samuel Loomis burst into the house and fired a shot into Michael's body. He followed it up with five more shots, which drove Michael through the bedroom window, out over the balcony and down onto the ground. When Loomis looked over the balcony however to check on Michael's body, he was gone. A hysterical Laurie meekly stated, "It was the Boogey Man," to which Loomis replied, "As a matter of fact... it was." Massacre at Haddonfield Memorial Laurie was taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, but she was in too much of a state of shock to provide the EMTs or hospital staff with any pertinent information regarding Michael Myers. A young ambulance driver named Jimmy took a liking to Laurie and promised to watch over her as she recuperated. Jimmy told Laurie the name of the man who had been trying to kill her. Laurie was terrified about being put to sleep out of fear that the "Boogey Man" would get her. The chief of medicine Frederick Mixter dismissed her concerns and kept Laurie heavily sedated. After awakening, Laurie was alarmed to learn that the man who had pursued her was in fact Michael Myers, and worried when head nurse Virginia Alves told her that her parents could not be contacted. Later, Laurie learned from Jimmy that Myers had apparently died in a car accident, although the victim in question was actually Laurie's crush Ben Tramer. Laurie panicked, trying to escape, causing the staff to sedate her once again. While unconscious, Laurie had a dream wherein she saw images of her brother at a young age and she recalled her mother telling her that she was actually adopted. Waking from this dream, Laurie began to slowly understand her connection to Myers, though she had yet to realize that he was in fact her brother. Michael meanwhile, having survived his initial encounter with Doctor Loomis, had tracked Laurie to the hospital and sought to finish her off. One by one, he cut his way through each member of the attending hospital staff until nothing stood between Laurie and himself. When Laurie realized that Michael was still hunting for her, she left her hospital room and began shambling down the empty corridors. Michael eventually discovered her and gave chase, but Laurie m anaged to escape by climbing through a window in a storeroom. She then hid in an unlocked car that happened to belong to Jimmy who joined her shortly. He told her that they were going to get away but he soon passed out due to a concussion. Laurie tried to start the car but failed and she was forced to get out. At this time she saw Doctor Loomis, his assistant Marion Chambers and Marshall Terrence Gummell enter the front doors of the hospital. Laurie tried to call out to them, but her voice was too hoarse. Myers appeared before her, and Laurie managed to get back inside the hospital. Doctor Loomis pushed Laurie behind him and temporarily halted Michael by firing several more shots into his chest. This only slowed Michael down by a matter of seconds however, and he quickly got back up and began chasing them. Loomis and Laurie sought shelter inside one of the empty examination rooms. He handed Laurie a gun and locked the door to the room. Michael broke through the door and critically injured Doctor Loomis. Laurie fired the gun Sam had given her, taking out both of Michael's eyes. Though blind, Michael continued to slash away at the air, hoping to connect with Laurie. The bleeding Doctor Loomis and Laurie then began releasing the valves on several canisters of ether. As Laurie vacated the room, Loomis ignited the ether, causing a massive explosion. Laurie turned around to see a burning Michael still trying to walk towards her but he finally fell down and was assumed dead. Laurie was then taken into an ambulance. Laurie stared outside until she was surprised by Jimmy, who sat up behind her in the ambulance. Laurie began to cry and took Jimmy's hand relieved they had survived. Jamie Lloyd The following information is only relevant to the 4-6 timeline. :For more information, see Laurie Strode (4 - 6 timeline). Following the traumatic experience of 1978, Laurie married Mr. Lloyd and in 1980 had a daughter with him named hold photograph of her in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers]]Jamie. Both Laurie and her husband died in an unspecified accident in November, 1982, leaving Jamie in the care of Richard and Darlene Carruthers, whose daughter Rachel Laurie had babysat as a teenager. Jamie was left with a shoebox full of pictures of her parents, including one that had been taken of Laurie on Halloween, 1978. When Michael Myers returned to Haddonfield to kill Jamie in 1988, he used these pictures to ensure that the girl he was pursuing was indeed Laurie Strode's daughter. In 1995, Laurie's adoptive cousins, John, Debra, Kara, Tim and Danny Strode moved into the Myers house. It is unknown what the Strodes' opinion on Laurie was. 20 Years Later The following information is only relevant to the H20 timeline. :For more information, see Laurie Strode (H20 timeline). Following her traumatic experiences, Laurie faked her own death, relocated to California and changed her name to Keri Tate. She had at one point gotten involved with a man whom she marriedHalloweencomics.com - A Beginner's Guide to Halloween and had a child with in 1981, named John. Based on how she referred to John's father as an abusive, chain-smoking methadone addict, it is clear they had a bad relationship. Following her divorce, she and John moved to Summer Glen, California where she became the headmistress of a small private prep school known as Hillcrest Academy. The two of them lived on campus with the rest of the students. Laurie still struggled with the events of Halloween, 1978. Her past trauma, as well as the stress of living under false pretense, had turned her into a functioning alcoholic. She was also heavily dependent on medication for her emotional condition. Eventually, Laurie got into a secret relationship with school guidance counselor Will Brennan. On October 31, 1998, twenty years to the day after the original Haddonfield murder spree, Will and Laurie decided to have lunch together. During their date, she revealed that she was scared that she was losing her son and that she had a horrible background. She also revealed to him that despite seeking many recovery methods her past continued to haunt her. After her lunch date Laurie found John and his friend Charles Deveraux roaming around town against school rules. She and John aruged about what he was doing as John felt he had enough of being so over-protected all the time. He told her that Michael Myers was dead and wasn't going to come back. Laurie returned both boys to Hillcrest and expressed disappointment in Ronald Jones, the security guard at the school. Unknown to them all, the resurfaced Michael Myers was following Laurie back to the school. After contemplating John's words, Laurie decided to grant her son permission to go on the school trip to Yosemite. However, John had already made plans to spend the weekend at school with his friends and stayed behind in secret. Meanwhile, Laurie and Will returned to her house, where she confessed her secrets to him. While talking, Laurie made a sudden connection - Laurie and Judith had been attacked on the Halloween after turning seventeen, and John had recently celebrated his seventeenth birthday. Although Laurie's logic was flawed, as Judith had died at age fifteen, she turned out to be correct in the fact that Michael was after John. Upon returning to the school, Laurie and Will found and rescued John and his girlfriend Molly Cartwell from Michael, who had already killed Charlie and Sarah Wainthrope. After hiding John and Molly in a closet, Laurie and Will proceeded through the school and spotted a shape in the distance, who Will shot. Unfortunately, the person turned out to be Ronnie, and Will was killed by Michael as he kneeled over Ronnie's body. Laurie, John and Molly escaped from the building and drove to the gates, where Laurie sent the teenagers to the Becker house to call the police. Once John and Molly were gone, Laurie locked herself inside the grounds, got a fire axe and went hunting for her brother. Michael attacked Laurie when she returned to the building. The siblings inflicted wounds on each other as they fought through the school, with Laurie emerging seemingly victorious as she stabbed Michael several times in the chest and forced him off a balcony in the cafeteria. Laurie approached the killer, intending to finish the job, but Ronnie, who had recovered, dragged her away from the scene. The police soon arrived and officials came to take Michael away. Knowing her brother could not have died so easily, Laurie took the fire axe and drove the medical van with Michael in it away, keeping an eye on the body bag. While Laurie drove frenetically, Michael began to wake, prompting his sister to step down on the brakes and knock him through the windshield. Once Michael stood up, Laurie drove right into him, sending the van off the cliff. Laurie fell out of the van, but Michael was pinned to a tree by the tumbling vehicle. Laurie retrieved the fire axe and walked over to her murdering brother. Michael reached out, seeming desperate for mercy. Breaking down, Laurie reached out as well, before realizing what she was doing and beheading Michael Myers with a single chop. Final Fight Laurie thought she had finally killed her brother and ended the thumb|right|300px|Laurie's Deathnightmare but the man she had killed turned out not to be her killer of a brother. Laurie learned that Michael had switched clothes with a paramedic while he was still in the school, knocking him out and crushing his larynx so he would be unable to cry out. Laurie was sent to Grace Andersen Sanitarium for murdering an innocent man where everyone believed her to be in a catatonic state. This proved not to be the case as Laurie had been stuffing the pills the nurses gave her in a rag doll she carried with her. Laurie waited three years for Michael to come for her and watched her window constantly. She had also gone up to the roof several times to set up a trap for Michael but the doctors thought she went up there to attempt suicide. Finally, on October 31, 2001, Michael made his appearance and looked up at Laurie in her window, allowing her to know he was coming. Michael came to her room and was hit over the head with a lamp by Laurie who led him up to the roof, where he found nothing but her coat billowing in the wind. Once Michael got close enough to the roof's edge, Laurie revealed herself and closed the trap, leaving Michael dangling by his ankle. Laurie assured Michael that she was no longer afraid and Michael had thus failed in his mission. However, Michael took advantage of Laurie's fears and grabbed his mask in agony, leading Laurie to hesitate for fear of killing another innocent. When she approached to remove his mask, Michael seized her, causing her added weight to break the rope and send both siblings tumbling off the roof. Michael drove his knife through Laurie's back. As she hung dying, Laurie kissed Michael's mask and promised he would see her in hell. Michael tore the knife out and let Laurie Strode fall to her death, finally allowing her freedom. Notes & Trivia *According to screenwriter/producer Debra Hill, the character of Laurie Strode was named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend. Appearances See Also * Laurie Strode (H20 timeline) * Laurie Strode (4 - 6 timeline) * Laurie Strode (remake timeline) References Category:Female characters Category:Victims of Michael Myers Category:Myers Family Category:Halloween (1978) characters Category:Halloween H20 characters Category:Halloween Resurrection characters Category:2000's deaths Category:1960's births Category:Halloween II (1981) characters Category:Strode Family Category:Primary protagonists